Get ready for a culinary carnival as Paisley gears up for its annual food and drink extravaganza

Scotland's largest festival of real ale returns and, once again, it's being served up with a side order of delicious food.

Taking place from Wednesday 19 to Saturday 22 April in Paisley Town Hall the four-day Paisley Beer Festival will celebrate its 30th anniversary in conjunction with St Mirren's Scottish Cup Win in 1987. Organised by the Renfrewshire branch of the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA), thousands will enjoy over 300 ales, beers, ciders and wines from Scotland, the UK and abroad.

Now in its third year, the free one-day food festival will take place on Saturday 22 April from 12noon to 7pm in Abbey Close. The festival will feature celebrity chef Gary Maclean, winner of MasterChef: The Professionals who will host a series of cooking demonstrations throughout the day.

Showcasing the breadth of Scotland's vibrant street food scene, traders will be serving the very best seasonal ingredients and sustainably sourced and hand reared produce, including gourmet lamb burgers and outdoor reared pork and apple burgers from The Kitchen Farmer from Duntarrin Farm in Argyll.

image: Gary Maclean and Kate AshworthBoth savoury and sweet pallets will be delighted with tastes from around the world with Indian street food from Bombay Kitchen, exquisite French patisseries from les Plaisirs d'Odette and the Mighty Mexican brings the taste of Mexico to Scotland with fresh and flavourful meals. Smaller portion sizes for children and a range of halal, gluten free and veggie options will be on offer and visitors will be able to sample a wide range of craft beers, small batch gins and prosecco on tap.

The cooking demonstration tent offers a jam-packed programme of free demonstrations and workshops around the theme of food and where it comes from, including show stopping dinners from Gary Maclean, a fermentation workshop on how to make your own healthy ginger beer from Bottle of Ginger, Asian cooking from STV's finalist Julie Lin Macleod, and how to conquer your fear of cooking fish from the chefs at seafood restaurant A'Challtainn. Kids can also take part in hands on cooking fun with free chocolate treat workshops, fruit bouquets and they can even challenge each other on the smoothie bike. It is anticipated that the demand for the demonstrations will be high, so pre-booking is recommended.

And there's more! A live music stage will feature some of the best local bands and artists and children's entertainer and CBeebies presenter Katy Ashworth will be providing plenty of giggling, sing-a-long songs, games, stories and a healthy dose of bottom wiggling.